Hasegawa F-6F Hellcat in 1/48th scale. This bird was roughly 45% finished and I decided to move it forward. The plane is fully constructed. The canopy (at time of this photo) was off drying. Then decals. The color is Tamiya Dark Sea Blue.

If you don't have a spares box, you soon will. The kit comes with a whole sprue of Skywave weapons. Why? They give you their own weapons?! Oh well... At this point, the ship is completely built and photo etched except for the two main search radars and the bow antenna spreader. Then I'll give her a coat of paint.

Italeri armor now. The USMC's second to latest armored vehicle, the LAV. This is the updated turret version. There are now several versions with AA turrets and gatling guns. The kit at this point is fully constructed. At the time of the photo, the wheels were off in the distance drying.

The overall construction is done. I've glued the hatches open and I will be detailing the interior. The kit came with four modern Marines with "fritz" helmets, etc. The outside is olive drab with a chipped buff over the top for A'stan and Iraq service. The interior will be white.

I'm probably not going to keep the turret. I want to scratchbuild the new AA turret with the Stingers, gatling gun and rocket launcher. There's also the 81mm mortar turret and the 105mm anti-tank gun turret I'm considering...

Fujimi F-14A Tomcat in 1/48th scale. Not as nice as their 1/72nd scale birds, but a nice quick build anyway. The wings fold but that's sadly it. No open panels or air brakes. Just the basics. The canopy is off drying at the time of this photo...

Scheme will be 1990's Top Gun (light ghost grey and white). No nose weight was needed surprisingly enough. The kit comes with a full she-bang of weapons but hold your applause just yet...the Sidewinders are horrid. Nevertheless, the Phoenix and Sparrow birds are fine.

The wheel wells are bare. In fact, Fujimi are so pleased with the wing folding ability that they don't even put a crap main gear well in. Oh well. The tail fins and jet exhausts are off drying somewhere...

Dragon USS Independence in 1/700th scale. A clear flight deck and weapons (sadly) plus a little photo etch fret are all in the box. The planes are pretty good too. A nice, easy, quick build with only a few little quibbles.

The photo etch fret comes with radars, the mast structure and a huge worthless hanger deck floor. Unfortunately, once you build the ship, you can't see the hanger as the see-through parts are off-center with each other.

The island is nicely detailed and the fit is great. The etch fret also gives you the main plane handling crane. The weapons are a bit chunky so I've replaced them.

The color scheme is for USS Monterrey, the ship that a young Gerald Ford served onboard. The instruction sheet shows you both ships but sadly gives the same exact scheme for both.

There is also an option to do full hull or waterline. The scribing is great and minimal photo etch is needed to finish the ship. The island has four plastic supports or you can use the two photoetched island supports. Huh?! Yup...they only give you two...

Now I just have to build the air group...

Well that was it for this weekend. The USAF Delta Dart is coming along but dad won't be IPMS picky over it.

Those Dragon ship kits are my favorite - the optional/extra PE, hull-bottoms and especially the weapons: they are really encouraging you to save and use a ton of spares, just as you mentioned. And the clear parts (aircraft not shown) - although sorry to hear the clear flight deck doesn't quite work.

Would you say there's a market for really good, 700-scale USN weapons, to replace the "clunky" ones? (Bear in mind, they would have to be at some kind of sustainable price.)

Hilarious review of the Fujimi 48/TomCat. They really do run the full gamut between excellence and pretty much excrement, don't they?!! Nevertheless, your cockpit (especially) is a Thing of Beauty, as always.

The USMC LAV is also very interesting. I love your scuffed/dirty paint job - and will be very interested to see how you can paint your interior after everything is already assembled. (What do you have a curved-handled brush, or something...?)

Virginia looks like a real nice little build - again, amazing how you (and other guys) can paint everything, without gumming it up - after complete assembly. I'm looking at the diminutive 5-inch guns - on a CA - and realizing they are only for small craft targets: anything larger, or an aircraft, just gets a missile(s) up the a**! Meantime, those 5-inchers are really more like machine-cannon. (Do you know the weight-of-shell-per-minute they can fire now?)

How does the hull-bottom (and also the one for the CVL) look? Again, I love Dragon's optional hull-bottoms - though I was disappointed with the one for their San Diego (CLAA), which I thought looked rather too flat. Again, it almost seems they are deliberately giving the aftermarket guys an opportunity to provide something(s) more accurate. Show us some pics of these hull-bottoms, will you, buddy?

And last (but certainly not least), that 48-scale Hellcat looks to be tasty - my favorite scale, for this type of plane. Will be very interested to see her decaled and weathered/dirtied, or whatever you're going to do to her.

Remarkable. I guess you really do work on 17 models all at the same time! Happy Father's Day/ Summer Solstice, Don!